Overview

Sid Meier's Civilization IV is a turn-based 4X strategy game developed by Firaxis and published by 2K for the PC on October 25, 2005. The fourth installment of the Civilization franchise, Civilization IV builds upon the gameplay from Sid Meier's Civilization III, adding 3D graphics, a simpler user interface, reasonable (and more transparent) AI players, and other gameplay improvements (including the concept of religion, improved military unit promotions, the more flexible "civics" model (replacing the simple "governments" model), and the concept of "Great People").

The game received two official expansions over two years: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords (adding gameplay mechanics based on war dominance) and Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (adding various new gameplay mechanics, from the concept of corporations to random events). Both expansions add new civilizations, leaders, units, and buildings. All the content from Warlords (with the exception of the expansion's scenarios) is included in Beyond the Sword (which also includes twelve custom mods, ranging from historically accurate to medieval fantasy to science fiction). An official standalone game was made using the game engine, dubbed Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization, which remakes the 1995 game Sid Meier's Colonization.

Gameplay

Leader Traits

Each leader in Civilization IV has 2 traits that reflect the leader's rule in history. There are 8 traits in the base game, and Warlords adds an additional 3.

Name

Attributes

Aggressive

Melee and gunpowder units receive Combat I promotion when built

Construction speed doubled for Barracks and Drydock

Creative

Additional 2 culture per city.

Construction speed doubled for Coliseum and Theater.

Expansive

Additional 2 health per city.

Construction speed doubled for Granary and Harbor.

Financial

1 extra commerce to tiles that have 2 commerce.

Construction speed doubled for Banks.

Industrious

Wonder construction rate increased by 50%.

Construction speed doubled for Forge

Organized

Expense of Civic upkeep reduced by 50%.

Construction speed doubled for Courthouse and Lighthouse.

Philosophical

Birth rate of Great People is doubled.

Construction speed doubled for University.

Spiritual

No Anarchy

Construction speed doubled for Temple.

Wonders

Civilization IV features wonders of the world that any civilization can build that are separated into national and world wonders. World wonders can only be built once per game, while national Wonders can be built once by each nation or team. There are 46 wonders in total:

World Wonders

Stonehenge

The Parthenon

The Great Lighthouse

The Great Pyramids

The Oracle

The Colossus

The Hanging Gardens

The Great Library

The Hagia Sophia

Chichen Itza

Angkor Wat

Notre Dame

Sistine Chapel

Spiral Minaret

Versailles

Hermitage

Taj Mahal

Statue of Liberty

The Pentagon

The Kremlin (Saint Basil's Cathedral is shown)

Mount Rushmore

Broadway

The Manhattan Project

The Eiffel Tower

Rock N' Roll

Three Gorges Dam

Hollywood

The United Nations

The Internet

The Space Elevator

7 of the World Wonders are religious shrines that can only be built in their respective Holy Cities:

The Church of the Nativity

The Temple of Solomon

The Kong Miao

The Dai Miao

The Masjid al-Haram (The Dome of the Rock is depicted)

The Kashi Vishwanath

The Mahabodhi

National Wonders

National Epic

Heroic Epic

Globe Theatre

Oxford University

West Point

Wall Street

Ironworks

Scotland Yard

Red Cross

Civilizations

There are 18 Civilizations in Civilization IV, each with 1 or 2 leaders:

PitBoss Server

The Civilization IV PitBoss is basically a dedicated server for multiplayer Civilization IV matches. The PitBoss server didn't ship with the original game, but was later made available and updated versions have been included with both of the game's expansions. PitBoss games work in one of two modes. If everyone is connected at the same time it works exactly like any other multiplayer game. However, if one or more players are not connected the game will wait for those players to take their turns before continuing. The only time a player might be skipped is if the game has a turn timer enabled and the missing player does not take their turn within the alloted amount of time.

Despite requiring that the game and any expansions you wish to use be installed, the PitBoss server does not use the game's normal user interface. Instead a slimmed down interface, that looks similar to any other standard Windows application, is presented for starting and maintaining games. Once the PitBoss server has been started the game's admin can start a new game using any mod, map or game type or load an existing game from a save made from either the PitBoss or a regular multiplayer game.

Warlords

The first expansion for Civilization IV, Warlords, was announced on 16 March, 2006. It adds 3 new leader traits, 6 new civilizations, 10 new leaders (including 4 for existing civilizations), 3 new wonders, 9 new units, and unique buildings for all the civilizations. Also added was the vassal state mechanic where defeated civilizations can act as a tributary to the victor, biding its time to rise again.

Civilization IV: Warlords was released on 24 July, 2006 in America and July 28, 2006 worldwide.

Beyond the Sword

Announced 28 March, 2007, the second expansion, Beyond the Sword, focuses on the late game. It introduces Corporations, a late game alternative to religion, and adds new units, buildings, and technologies to the post Gunpowder eras. It also adds 10 new civilizations, 16 new leaders (6 for existing civilizations), 5 new wonders, 16 new buildings, 23 new units, and 6 new technologies. Also included are 11 new scenarios, ranging from medieval to science fiction.

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword was released 23 July, 2007 in America.

Colonization

Civilization IV: Colonization is a special standalone expansion, a remake of the old 1994 game Colonization in the Civilization IV engine. Announced 9 June, 2008, it focuses on the European colonization of the New World. Players play as one of the colonies, struggling both against the natives and their colonial masters back home. Players win by declaring independence and fighting off the European armies trying to take back their colonies.

Civilization IV: Colonization was released 22 September, 2008 in America.

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